Klangkrieg / Gunter Adler

This split LP allots one side of vinyl each to Klangkrieg and Günther Adler, compatible artists from the German experimental electronica scene. Klangkrieg (Felix Knoth and Tim Burhe) serves up five tracks of burbling and crackling electronics, pushing further the ideas found on their 1999 Audioview CD, Das Fieber der Menschlichen Stimme. Ambient without the mood, these minute constructions feel rather cold but manage to capture your attention for a while. Still, in the era of laptop artists this music is hardly new. Günther Adler adds a sense of mischief that spices up side two. Better known as a member of the dada pop outfit Groenland Orchester, Adler (whose real name is Jyrgen Hall) proposes something more challenging, a music that sits equivocally between analog and digital, between pop sensibilities and academic electronics. His three "Polymetrica" pieces feature clashing loops of electronic blips and clicks with witty twists and retro sounds Reznicek surely would like. "Konstellation" and "Telecraft" reproduce the cold splendor of vintage electronic pieces from the 1960s without drowning in nostalgia. Both artists provide good material and their respective fans should be pleased, but it is not enough to make this LP stand out from the heaps of experimental electronica that came out of Germany in 2002. ~ François Couture, Rovi